Skullkickers issue #3 is now available for digital download and reading on your internet browser or smart phone via comiXology.

“ONE THOUSAND OPAS AND A DEAD BODY” Part Three

A pilfered poison pabulum has pickled pieces of our protagonist’s paunch while portentous poetic prophecies proudly parade apace, parlaying a perilous paradigm. Paraphrasing – Skullkickers is a particularly perfect packaged pamphlet of plucky pulp worth every precious penny in perpetuity. Purchase!

Zub has been nominated for a 2011 Joe Shuster Award in the \’Outstanding Comic Book Writer\’ category. Wish him luck as we head towards the award ceremony taking place on June 18th at the Calgary Comic Expo.

About The Joe Shuster Award
The Joe Shuster Award is a national achievement award program for Canadians working on comic books, graphic novels and webcomics and has no restrictions on language, content and/or genre. Creator nominees are nominated for their work during the previous calendar year. The Joe Shuster Awards also honour the people who publish and sell comics. Retailer and self-publisher awards are submission-based. The Joe Shuster Award program is administered by the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association, a not-for-profit organization founded in 2004.

A great piece from 2Ajoe on devianART of our mercenary morons:

Comic Book Resources has just put up a commentary rundown for Skullkickers #5 with some background notes and trivia from the issue, giving readers more insight into the issue and how the first story all wraps up. Enjoy!

Skullkickers #5, the last issue of our first story arc, arrives in comic book stores today. All of us on the creative team are excited to hear from fans and retailers about what they think of the big action climax in this issue.

At the back of the issue is a special letter from Zub about the future of the series. You can check it out by clicking the thumbnail below –

Here\’s the text:
Here we are – the first story arc of Skullkickers is complete!

The original “2 Copper Pieces” short story that Skullkickers is based off of was pitched to Image for Popgun v2 back in November of 2007. Just over three years later I’m writing this letter to you, our readers, as we wrap up the fifth issue of our ongoing series.

Yeah, ongoing. You can’t imagine how happy typing that makes me.

When I outlined the story for Skullkickers I made sure there was a back-up plan to wrap things up after five issues if sales came in where we expected them to. We’d tell one complete adventure of these two mercenary morons and that would be it. This issue is where things would have ended.

I probably don’t need to explain this to you, but the comic book industry doesn’t generally embrace new series with open arms. Titles launch all the time and the vast majority crumble under deadline or sales pressures. There was no reason to expect our book would do any better and I planned accordingly. As my Dad would say, “Plan for the worst but hope for the best”.

And the best is exactly what we received.

The best from the creative team, our publisher, reviewers, retailers and fans. Thank you, all of you. You’ve helped make creating this book an incredible experience and a highlight in my creative career.

Our little sword & sassery book has surprised a lot of people and done a pretty good job at carving out a tiny niche to call its own. The back-up plan has been filed away and is ideally never needed. Now we can dig in to a bigger epic story and poke holes in an even larger fantasy milieu. It’s gonna be a hoot.

Is there more depth coming? Yes, absolutely.

Now that the series is established we can plan ahead and do a lot more than I’d originally thought possible. A single ridiculous swashbuckling adventure is now the opening salvo of a much bigger story I have planned. Baldy and Shorty may not understand anything past the end of their weapons right now but a whole lot more is happening behind the scenes. These two monster killers are caught in a maelstrom of political and magical machinations that’s going to take them across this fantasy world and beyond. Just like this first chapter it’ll be big and loud, sarcastic and explosive.

The mercenaries will finally be named, the cast will grow, history will be explored, destiny will be foretold and monsters will have their brains squished in new and amazing ways. It probably won’t win us any awards for advancing the storytelling medium, but we’ll do everything we can to make it fun and well worth your $2.99.

I think comedy gets a bad rap. People feel guilty enjoying something goofy when there are deep and meaningful works they “should” be partaking in. Don’t get me wrong, I have a dozen ideas for stories that delve in to the depths of the human condition and make people cry bulbous tears of pure emotion, but Skullkickers is not that kind of book. This is a sugar shock of silly action carved out of my pre-teen enthusiasm for fantasy and over-the-top action movies. It’s built to make a 12 year old little Zub freak out with excitement and run around the house pretending he’s kicking an animated skeleton in the teeth.

Sincerely,
ZUB

Image has posted up a 5 page preview of Skullkickers #5, which arrives in comic stores tomorrow!

This issue marks the end of our first story arc, so it\’s the perfect time to get caught up and read the entire adventure in one sitting.

Three great new piece of SK fan art put together by fans of the book.
Click on each to check them out full size:

\”Shorty\”, by Andrew Huerta

\”Skullkickin\’\”, by Karim Whalen

\”What\’s a Skullkicker?\” by Joshua Santa-Cruz

Great work, guys!

NOW is the time to let your local comic shop know that you want to pre-order a copy of Skullkickers Volume 1, which arrives in March.

Image is value pricing our first trade at the incredibly low price of $9.99 (as they have with hit series including The Walking Dead, Invincible and Chew) and we want to make the biggest splash possible when it\’s released, increasing our readership and showing the comic community that fun non-superhero stuff is worthy.

Here are 3 solid pre-order options:

1) Go to your local comic shop

Use the spiffy Comic Shop Locator website to find the closest shop and let them know you want a copy of Skullkickers put aside for you.
Book 1- 1000 Opas and a Dead Body JAN110576

2) Pre-order from Barnes & Nobles

Click here to pre-order from B&N:

3) Pre-order from Amazon

Click here to pre-order from Amazon.com:

Skullkickers #5, the final issue of our first story arc, arrives in comic stores in just two weeks.

There will be action aplenty, humor and banter as a bunch of threads from this first storyline play out in frantic form. You do not want to miss this one.

Have you pre-ordered your copy?

My good friend Tory Woollcott made up a fantastically cute little Dwarf Skullkickers Christmas ornament. I\’ve had it for a couple weeks but wanted to make sure it was photographed on the tree and properly lit, so here it is!

He\’s got the beard braids, ponytail and angry eyebrows… so awesome!

Tory, you rock.